The project directory structure

A VRGS project is two things on disk: a small .vgpx project file, and a data folder beside it named after the project with Data appended. Both are needed — the .vgpx on its own will not open a project, because the interpretations live in the database inside the data folder.

📜MyProject.vgpx        // the project file (JSON): settings, coordinate system, display options

📦MyProject Data
 ┣ 📂DATABASES          // Database directory
 ┃ ┗ 📜SQLDBv4.db       // sqlite database - every interpretation in the project
 ┣ 📂VGP_BACKUP         // Backup directory
 ┃ ┣ 📜Sat_Oct_24_172750_2020.zip  // Backup of the last saved project
 ┃ ┗ 📜Sat_Oct_22_201643_2020_UpgradeFrom_266.zip
 ┣ 📂ASSETS             // location of user defined assets
 ┣ 📂HTML               // field guide and HTML pages
 ┣ 📂JSON_WELL_LOGS
 ┣ 📂LOGIMAGES
 ┣ 📂MULTIMEDIA         // files linked from multimedia annotations
 ┣ 📂ORTHOIMAGES
 ┃ ┗ AA.tif
 ┣ 📂ORTHOPANELS
 ┣ 📂PATTERN_FILLS      // log pattern fills, seeded from the VRGS installation
 ┣ 📂PLUGINS
 ┣ 📂PYTHON             // project Python scripts
 ┣ 📂RAG_DB             // Athos's index of this project's literature
 ┣ 📂RECYCLING          // deleted objects, recoverable until you clear it
 ┣ 📂SEGMENTATION
 ┣ 📂SFM_WORKSPACES     // photogrammetry (SfM) reconstruction workspaces
 ┣ 📂SLIDES
 ┃ ┣ 📜PresentationSlide1.jpg
 ┣ 📂TILEMODELS
 ┣ 📂TRIMESH
 ┣ 📜ProjectPrefs.json  // project preferences, colour maps, autosave settings
 ┣ 📜Skybox_0_0.dxt
 ┣ 📜Skybox_0_0.pcl
 ┣ 📜TreforLowRes.jpg_0.jpg
 ┣ 📜TreforLowRes.obj_0.dxt
 ┗ 📜TreforLowRes.obj_0.tin

Most of the sub-folders are created when the project is, whether or not you ever put anything in them, so an empty folder is not a sign that something went wrong. The loose files at the root of the data folder are VRGS's own copies of the data you imported: .tin for meshes, .pcl for point clouds, .dxt for textures. They are what makes reopening a project so much faster than the original import.

Moving or archiving a project

Copy the .vgpx and the Data folder together, and keep them side by side. A .vgpx on its own has no interpretations in it, and a data folder on its own has no project to open.

Older projects

Projects created with VRGS 3.3 and earlier have a binary .vgp file where the .vgpx is shown above. VRGS still opens those; once one has been saved by 3.4 it gains a .vgpx sibling, and that is the file to open from then on. The old .vgp is left alone rather than rewritten.

Accessing the database file

The database is a plain SQLite file at <project> Data\DATABASES\SQLDBv4.db, so anything that reads SQLite can read it — the sqlite3 command line, a GUI browser, or Python's sqlite3 module from the VRGS Python console.

Close the project in VRGS first, or open a copy. VRGS holds the database open while the project is loaded, and writing to it from outside is the one reliable way to corrupt a project.

You may not need the database at all

Two routes get the data out without touching SQLite: the Spreadsheet view on any interpretation group (right-click the group → Spreadsheet), and the export routes in Getting Data In and Out. The Athos assistant can also query the project database from a plain-English question.